More than 40 Harker students lent helping hands to the Magic organization in mid-March, spending the day helping Mother Nature. Magic specializes in ecology-based volunteer work. Since their founding in 1979, Magic has planted tens of thousands of trees, written computer programs to forecast the economic and ecological effects of urban tree management and established the first ecological economics course at Stanford University.
“Together we tagged, surveyed and mulched more than a hundred trees; planted eight native oaks; abated coyote bush that was encroaching on recently planted oaks; installed protective shelters on more than a dozen trees to prevent deer browse; laughed and learned and enjoyed a beautiful day in a lovely natural (mostly) environment,” said Magic representative Robin Bayer, who also mentioned that she hoped to work with Harker students on future projects.
Students who embarked on the trip were:
Gr. 9: Dwight Payne, Jason Kuan, David Dominguez, David Fang, Stephen
Hughes, Nathan Hoffman, Daniel Mao, Ananth Subramaniam, Asia Howard,
Alex Mabanta, Saagar Sarin, Saurabh Sharan, Vikrum Jain, David Brunfeld,
Sebastian Herscher, Kirsten Herr, Devin Nguyen, Richard Lee, William
Chang, Robert Maxton, Aditya Sastry, Lauren Pinzás and Kushal Ranjan.
Gr. 10: Amir Mortazavi, Chris Ng, Daisy Mohrman, Katharine Forsberg, Justin
Shamlou, Rishi Bhatia, Riya Parikh, Alex Kablanian, Michael Prutton,
Ajit Punj, Baran Ozdemir, Jai Nagarajan, Howard Lio and Rishi Ravuri.
Gr. 11: Melanie Herscher, Jackie Ho and Jonathan Lau.
On March 19 and 20, students participating in this year’s J8 competition gathered with teachers and alumni to discuss two important problems facing the world’s population, and ways in which they can be remedied.
The two roundtable discussions, held at the Bistro Café in Manzanita Hall, were held to help the students prepare their applications for the J8 competition. Harker has a high number of students participating this year – eight teams of four students each – and as such, US librarian Lauri Vaughan and US history teacher Carol Zink organized the meetings to give the students the opportunity to voice their ideas.
The March 19 discussions dealt with infectious diseases, while the March 20 meeting addressed the problem of global warming and energy use. Teachers attended the meetings to facilitate discourse, thus helping students to come up with creative, well-rounded solutions. “Teachers generally played devil’s advocate and challenged kids to address the issue from several directions to test their viability,” Vaughan said. “Needless to say, it was fascinating stuff! I was thrilled to see faculty from such a variety of disciplines (history, science, ethics, math, literature) participate.”
Faculty on hand for the infectious diseases meeting were Ramsay Westgate, John Heyes, Sue Smith and Dan Hudkins. Teachers present at the global warming discussion were Eric Nelson, Shaun Jahshan, Westgate, Smith and Victor Adler. Two of the eight winners of the 2007 J8 competition were also present: senior David Kastelman and alum Aarathi Minisandram ’08. The event was co-sponsored by Harker’s Junior States of America and Global Empowerment Organization.
Student artwork was on display during the AP Art Reception, held at the Nichols Hall atrium on April 8. Students, faculty and staff arrived to view an impressive variety of two- and three-dimensional pieces, each communicating its own themes and ideas.
The work of Julian Stahl explore the concept of tension with a unique variety of thought-provoking sculptures, including a tower made of drinking straws that seemed to be stretching ever upward, and an open hand attached to a close fist, with each end pulling against the other.
One of Matthew Gehm’s pieces featured an array of white miniature figures that vaguely resembled people. Nestled into the bunch was a lone black figure, bringing to mind “the idea of conformity and hidden prejudices in society,” Gehm said.
Stephanie Guo used the art of photography to take a detailed look at various aspects of her Chinese heritage. Works on display included extreme close-ups of Chinese food packaging and rice grains resting between a pair of chopsticks.
The distinct curvatures and balletic twisting of Omar Haque’s foam and plexiglass sculptures was inspired by the movement of storms. “I really wanted to convey a sense of motion with my concentration,” he said.
Silvia Cernea’s photographic pieces were created using an ordinary digital camera, with which she captured various scenes at concerts she attended. Cernea combined some of pictures with her graphic design skills to create dazzling promotional posters for the events she photographed.
The imaginative illustrations of Melody Lee told an “Alice in Wonderland”-style story solely through images. In the uniquely conceived narrative, a small girl must jump, climb and even change shape in order to complete her journey.
The digital illustrations that Christine Yu had on display rendered everyday natural wonders such as water lilies and cherries with a painterly approach that imbued them with a distinct, lifelike quality more akin to the works created on canvas than to those made on a tablet PC.
Also working with a theme from nature was Natasha Jeswani, whose expressive paintings of various fruits were more of an exercise in interpretation than in realism. “I focused more on shapes and colors and less on perfect details and the depiction of light,” Jeswani wrote in the statement accompanying her pieces.
Lauren Moser also wisely took some creative liberties when sculpting the faces that explored the nature of human emotion. Rather than focusing on accurately depicting the biological features of the human face, the exaggerated expressions put the emotions across by cleverly utilizing the art of caricature.
Shelby Drabman’s colorful illustrations offered a unique perspective on how humans receive and interpret music. Her works abstractly featured different media from various time periods, from vinyl LPs to iPods, forming a unique narrative on how the consumption of music has changed over time.
In contrast to the abstract concepts displayed by the other artists on display, Sian Yuan’s drawings welcomed outsiders into the life of her family. By depicting her family at home and at play, Yuan hoped to convey the sense of togetherness that she feels when spending time with her loved ones.
Many of these works, as well as those of several other talented Harker students, are currently on display in the Nichols Hall atrium. Please stop by and give them the attention they deserve!
The Harker chapter of the Key Club took a special trip to Anaheim in early April, where they visited the quintessential Orange County landmark, Disneyland, and also attended the California-Nevada-Hawaii Key Club Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center. A spring break well-spent!
Swimmer Andrew Chin, Gr. 12, was honored on his very own Senior Night in early April for his great participation on Harker’s swim team. Chin, who will swim at the University of Pennsylvania next year, has shown dedication to the sport, and Harker honors his contribution, as well as all other senior athletes this year.
The Harker Orchestra, led by director Chris Florio, traveled to New York in early April to compete in the National Orchestra Cup at Lincoln Center’s newly renovated Alice Tully Hall (see Harker News, Nov., 2008, page 1), where they earned a prestigious award and had a stellar time!
“Our students had a spectacular performance that truly captivated the judges and audience,” said Florio. “Although we were not awarded grand champions, we were given the festival staff award (the Forte Award), which is ‘awarded for positive attitude and best exemplifying the spirit of America and performance excellence.’ The festival staff stated that this award is very close to their hearts and not one that is given out lightly.”
Florio noted that another panel judge, who just happens to be a Saratoga High School graduate, “congratulated our orchestra on how high our performance level has become in such a short period of existence as an upper school. He was also very impressed that a high school orchestra could handle our difficult repertoire at such a high level.” Congrats to the 60+ members of the orchestra for an outstanding performance!
A select group of Harker athletes gathered in mid-April to celebrate their step up to college athletics as Kristina Bither signed her papers to compete in volleyball for Villanova University. Joining Bither were four others who have already committed: Andrew Chin, swimming at the University of Pennsylvania; Sabrina Paseman, diving at Cornell; Tara Panu, tennis at Pepperdine; and Ankita Shah, gymnastics at UC Berkeley.
Harker welcomed a group of thirteen high school students and their chaperones from Fribourg, Switzerland’s College de Gambach during the week of April 6. The teens, who lived with Harker student host families, caught a glimpse of Harker life and saw some signature California landmarks along the way.
The visitors spent a good portion of the week observing classes with their buddies, including a Shakespeare class where students participated in acting exercises by passing a bean bag to one another.
Their week also included a couple of special field trips. Students were treated to a tour of the Google campus in Mountain View and got to visit the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, in addition to getting an up-close look at the Pacific Ocean.
An appearance at the April 10 Multicultural Assembly and a farewell party in the Edge put the finishing touches on a memory-filled trip.
Merci beaucoup to all the host families who supported our guests during their visit:
Gr. 9: Shivani Bigler, Neda Ghaffarian, Neha Kumar, Daniela Lapidous, Jay Reddy and Shreya Indukuri
Gr. 10: Michael Patland, Jason Young, Michelle Vu, Amanda King and Margaux Nielsen.
The California Junior Classical League Convention came to Blackford in late March for a weekend of toga-clad competition. In the end, Harker students graced many top spots. US participants tied for first place overall and shared second place in the HS Advanced Certamen (Latin quiz bowl) category.
US students had many stand-out individual performances. Brandon Araki, Gr. 11, earned first in Vocabulary and second in Ancient Geography. Araki also took second in Certamen, as did classmates Monisha Dilip and Alex Han and senior Alex Hu. Han also finished first in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations and Latin derivatives. Maggie Woods, Gr. 11, took first in Reading Comprehension and Pentathlon. Sophia Gilman, Gr. 12, finished second in Chess and fourth in Advanced Reading Comprehension, while Sohini Khan, Gr. 11, came in second in Advanced Grammar and fourth in Advanced Reading Comprehension.
At HS Level Three, Harker swept Sight-Reading Latin Prose with freshmen Prag Batra, Jessica Lin, Ramya Rangan earning first, second and third, respectively. Similarly, Rangan, Alexander Hsu, Gr. 9 and April Luo, Gr. 10, swept Advanced Reading Comprehension. Batra also earned third in Dramatic Interpretation of Poetry. Lin took first in Roman Daily Life and fourth in Roman History and Latin Derivatives. Rangan earned third in Dramatic Interpretation of Prose and fourth in Advanced Grammar, Phillip Oung, Gr. 9, placed second in Mythology while Christophe Pellissier, Gr. 9, placed third in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations.
Eric Henshall, Gr. 9 and Daniel Nguyen, Gr. 12, took third and fourth places in High School Level One Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, respectively.
The MS also had a very successful weekend, taking first place overall, second in the Scrapbook contest and third in MS Advanced Certamen. Oishi Banerjee, Gr. 7, was the big winner, earning first place in all individual categories: Arts, Academic and Combined. Banerjee placed first in Original Poetry and Advanced Daily Life, second in Advanced Latin Oratory, Dramatic Interpretation and Mythology, and third in That’s Entertainment and Modern Myth. Banerjee even placed in the high-school level Vocal contest, taking third. Her team, which included classmates Kevin Duraiswamy and Brian Tuan, placed third in the MS Advanced Team Certamen.
Jenny Chen, Gr. 8, took first in the Girls 400 and 100-meter track races, and tennis, tied for second Advanced Reading Comprehension and took second in Advanced Grammar.
Kevin Duraiswamy, Gr. 7, took first in the small models contest, won second in Advanced Reading Comprehension and Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, and third in Advanced Latin Oratory.
Zina Jawadi, Gr. 7, earned first in Advanced Latin Oratory, second in MS 1 Sight Latin Reading, and third in the Girls 400 and 100-meter track races.
Eighth grader Suchita Nety’s team won first in the Open Certamen, second in the Greeting Cards and Advanced Pentathlon, and third in Advanced Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations. Madhuri Nori, Gr. 6, earned first in Dramatic Interpretation, third in Jewelry and MS 1 Reading Comprehension, and an Honorable Mention in MS 1 Mythology.
Ashvin Swaminathan, Gr. 8, took first in HS Level 2 Latin Oratory, MS Advanced Vocabulary and Advanced Grammar. His team also earned second in HS Level 2 Team Certamen with Gr. 8 teammates Pranav Sharma (winner of the MS Advanced Pentathlon and second in HS Level 2 Latin Oratory) and Richard Fan, who earned second and third spots in MS Advanced Ancient Geography and Advanced History, respectively.
Anika Ayyar, Gr. 7, won first in Dramatic Interpretation, third in the Team Certamen and Honorable Mentions in Daily Life and Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations.
Molly Wolfe, Gr. 8, took first in the essay contest, second in dance and third in Advanced Vocabulary.
Annirudh Ankola, Gr. 6, won first for Male Costume, second in Chess and third in Traditional Photography.
Angela Gu, Gr. 6, took first in MS Level 1 Mythology and Urvi Gupta, Gr. 7, placed first in Advanced Reading Comprehension. Her team took second in the Open Certamen.
In addition to taking second place in HS Level 2 Team Certamen with Swaminathan, Fan and Pranav Sharma, eighth grader Anuj Sharma (no relation) finished first in MS Advanced Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations.
Helena Huang, Gr. 7, took first in Piano and Rasika Raghavan, Gr. 6, placed first in Arts – Miscellaneous. Aadyot Bhatnagar, Gr. 6, earned first in Vocabulary and second in Derivatives. To add to his first place finish in Advanced Ancient Geography, Nik Datuashvilli, Gr. 8, took first in MS Open Certamen with teammates Suchita Nety, Gr. 8, and Nicky Semenza, Gr. 7.
In Multimedia, Simran Singh, Gr. 6, took second and an Honorable Mention in Level 1 Reading Comprehension. Seventh grader Allison Chang took second in Individual Scrapbook, while Michael Cheng, Gr. 8, was third in Advanced Grammar. Eighth graders Eric Zhang earned second in Advanced History, and Shannon Su received an Honorable Mention for Advanced Grammar. Other Honorable Mentions went to Richard Min, Gr. 7, for Advanced Mythology, Laura Pedrotti, Gr. 8, for Advanced Derivatives, Sahana Rangarajan, Gr. 6, for Level 1 Derivatives and Sahithya Prakash, Gr. 7 for Level 1 Reading Comprehension.
The yearly Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship, held March 18 in downtown San Jose, was once again a big success for US and MS Harker students.
Denzil Sikka, Gr. 12, was one of two Top Senior High Award winners from Harker, earning a Dr. Paul Callahan Technical Paper Award for having one of the best technical papers shown at the fair dealing with physical and biological sciences. Her paper, titled “Aging is Predictable – Biomarkers of Aging: Age Prediction by Use of Mathematical Models of Biomarkers” also netted her a $100 prize. She also received a $200 cash prize for winning the Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award.
Harker’s second Top Senior High Award winner was Isaac Madan, Gr. 10, for his paper “The Impact of the Planar Cell Polarity Pathway Function on the Structure of the Cerebellum.” Madan took home the Grand Prize Alternate in biological sciences and earned a trip to the state science fair.
Madan and Haran Sivakumar, Gr. 11, who also earned a trip to the state science fair, both placed first in the Medicine/Health/Gerontology category. Rahul Ahuja, Gr. 12, earned a second place award in the Individual Project subcategory and received an honorable mention from the U.S. Army.
Harker also had a number of winners in the competition’s Computers/Mathematics category. Andrew Stanek, Gr. 12, took first place in the Individual Project subcategory, and received second place in the Technical Paper subcategory. Senior Dominique Dabija was given a second place award in both the Technical Paper and Individual Project subcategories.
In the Biochemistry/Microbiology category, Elena Madan, Gr. 12, Alex Han, Gr. 11 and Peter Gao, Gr. 10, were all second place award winners for Individual Project. Madan also received a $200 cash prize from the Palo Alto chapter of the Association for Women in Science. Aaron Lin, Gr. 12, was awarded $100 and an Achievement Certificate from the Santa Clara County Biotech Education Partnership.
Ramya Rangan and Kathryn Siegel, both Gr. 9, won an honorable mention for their team project in the Botany category, while Emily Carr, Gr. 12, was awarded a certificate and a medal from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for her project in the Environmental Sciences category. Senior Anand Natarajan’s paper, “Spatial Control of Gene Expression using CT-guided Collimated X-rays to Modulate Transcription,” earned him a first place award in the Technical Paper category, with fellow senior Baladitya Yellapragada taking a second place award in the same category for the paper “Virtual Worlds for CPR.”
Lastly, but not leastly, Jerry Sun, Gr. 10, earned a first place award for Technical Paper in Zoology for his work, “Cinnamomum Verum Bark Essential Oils Affect on the Movement of Ants.”
On the MS side, students came up big in the Physics category. Vikas Bhetanabhotla, Gr. 7, took home a second place award in Individual Project, and also received a Certificate of Achievement from the NASA Ames Research center, as well as a VIP visit to the NASA Ames facility and an honorable mention from the United States Coast Guard. Fellow seventh graders Allen Cheng and Daniel Pak also hauled in a second place award for their team project, which received an honorable mention from ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals. Another seventh grader, Brian Tuan, received an honorable mention for Individual Project, as did Michaela Kastelman, Gr. 8, who also hauled in a $100 cash prize and earned a $100 donation to the MS science department from Trimble Navigation.
Ashvin Swaminathan, Gr. 8, was the winner of a first place award in the Individual Project area of Biochemistry/Microbiology, while Jennifer Dai, Gr. 7, and Suchita Nety, Gr. 8, received honorable mentions for Individual Project in the same category.
In Engineering, Varun Gudapati, Gr. 8, was the winner of a second place award for Individual Project and received the first place award from ASM International, which included a $100 cash prize. Vikram Sundar, Gr. 7, was another Engineering award recipient, receiving an honorable mention from ASM International and a HP35s scientific calculator from Hewlett-Packard.
Ramakrishnan Menon and Benjamin Yang, both Gr. 8, received the second place award for Team Project in Environmental Sciences, and both also received a certificate of achievement from the American Meteorological Society.
In the Medicine/Health/Gerontology category, eighth grader Jacqueline Wang was a Top Junior High Award Winner, winning an Isabelle Stone Award for Best Biological Science Projects, which included a plaque, a $100 cash prize and a trip to the State Science Fair. Wang also earned a first place award for Individual Project, a certificate from the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge and a Board of Directors Award in the Middle School category from the Santa Clara Valley Science and Engineering Fair Association. Zina Jawadi, Gr. 7, received an honorable mention. Nikhil Baradwaj, Gr. 8, was given a Certificate of Merit from the American Psychological Association.
Elsewhere, Paulomi Bhattacharya, Gr. 8, received a first place award for Individual Project in Earth Space/Sciences. Bhattacharya was also invited to the State Science Fair and the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, and received a Special Award for Geoscience Excellence from the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Association for Women Geoscientists.
For the school’s performance at the fair, Harker received an Outstanding School Award, and US biology teacher Kate Schafer won an Outstanding Teacher Award. Congratulations, obviously, are due all around!